Issam al-Attar

Issam al-Attar (1927-) was Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood of Syria from 1961 to 1980, succeeding Mustafa al-Siba'i and preceding Adnan Saad al-Din.

Biography
Issam al-Attar was born in Damascus, Syria in 1927 to a Sunni Muslim Arab family. He was the brother of Vice President Najah al-Attar, who would become a leader of the rival Ba'ath Party. al-Attar took over the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood of Syria from Mustafa al-Siba'i in 1961, and he was denied re-entry into Syria by the Ba'athist government following a hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in 1963, and he lived in exile in Germany from the 1970s. In 1980, he was removed from his position as Supreme Guide due to his ill health and repeated governmental victories during the Islamist uprising in Syria of 1979-1982, and he led the Talaa'i movement in Germany.